With Game-Ending Homer, Gardner Again Finishes What Rivera Can’t

The Yankees mobbed Brett Gardner, center, after his ninth-inning home run Sunday. He also had a game-ending hit Friday. Mariano Rivera blew a save each time.

Barton Silverman / The New York Times

By ANDREW KEH

August 11, 2013

Late on Sunday afternoon, Joe Girardi was asked to what level he was worried about closer Mariano Rivera. Without speaking a word, he curled the fingers on his right hand into a circle: zero.

It was a defiant statement, given that Rivera, baseball’s career saves leader, has not converted his last three opportunities. His latest failure occurred Sunday when he allowed two ninth-inning home runs, vaporizing the Yankees’ two-run lead over the Detroit Tigers.

Girardi would have felt more unsettled afterward, perhaps, if Brett Gardner had not hit a game-ending home run minutes later to lift the Yankees to a 5-4 victory. Instead, as he sat inside a conference room at Yankee Stadium, the manager could deliver cool assurances.

“It’s not like you forget how to pitch in a week,” Girardi said of Rivera, who has recorded 643 saves since his major league debut in 1995. “It’s not possible.”

What a poor stretch it has been, though. Rivera allowed a two-out, game-tying single to Adam Dunn last Wednesday night in the Yankees’ 12-inning loss to the Chicago White Sox. He gave up a two-run homer to Miguel Cabrera that tied the score on Friday night; the Yankees won in 10 innings.

Cabrera helped foil Rivera again Sunday, crushing a solo homer to right-center to open the ninth. One out later, Victor Martinez pulled his own monstrous shot into the right-field stands.

“You’re facing professional hitters,” Rivera said. “If you don’t put the ball where you need to, you’re going to get hit.”

It was the first time Rivera had allowed multiple home runs in a save opportunity, and the first time he had blown three consecutive save chances. But Gardner, who delivered a game-ending single to rescue the Yankees on Friday, picked up Rivera again Sunday afternoon, ripping a solo home run to right field off Jose Veras to end the game.

“That’s the first time I’ve hit a walk-off homer,” Gardner said. “It might be the last.”

Gardner’s blast gave the Yankees three homers on the day and improved their season total to 100 — a rare power surge for a team that started the day ranked 24th in the majors in that category.

Alex Rodriguez started things in the second inning, belting a 92-mile-per-hour inside fastball from Justin Verlander high into left field. The ball hung up tantalizingly before carrying over the fence, and Rodriguez clapped his hands together as it landed in the seats. It was his first homer since last September, and it brought his career total to 648, leaving him 12 from tying Willie Mays on the career list.

The blast seduced the crowd into a standing ovation — the first mostly positive response toward Rodriguez since he made his 2013 home debut Friday — and perhaps proved that disarming the home crowd may not be a complicated process.

Rodriguez’s image may rest beyond repair, but the team could use some offense. “You want to turn boos into cheers,” Rodriguez said. “You want to go out and make them proud. All you want is really an opportunity and a chance, and I think New York always gives you that.”

Eduardo Nunez added a sacrifice fly later in the second, and one inning later, Rodriguez drilled a run-scoring single down the right-field line. Alfonso Soriano led off the bottom of the fourth by sending a hanging slider from Verlander deep into the left-field stands. It was his 20th home run of the season, and the 2,000th hit of his career.

While the offense hummed, Andy Pettitte went into survival mode to get through an arduous afternoon. It was only the fifth inning when he threw his 101st and final pitch — a ball that loaded the bases — but he escaped the outing having allowed one run.

“I thought it was extremely gritty on his part,” Girardi said of Pettitte’s ability to escape trouble.

The Yankees’ lead began to slip away in the eighth, when Dave Robertson gave up a leadoff home run to Brayan Pena, but the damage could have been worse. Jose Iglesias came up next and singled, and on the next play, he became the inning’s first out after a questionable call at second base, as Rodriguez’s fielder’s choice throw on Austin Jackson’s grounder seemed to arrive late.

Gardner then made a spectacular leaping catch against the center-field wall to rob Torii Hunter for the second out. Gardner had the wind knocked out of him, and he rolled the ball to Soriano as he slumped to the ground. As Soriano tossed the ball to Nunez, Jackson stayed at second after seeing the ball rolling in the outfield. So Nunez flipped the ball to Robinson Cano, who tagged Jackson near second to complete the inning-ending 8-7-6-4 double play.

It was a crucial sequence for the Yankees, who are trying to fight an image as playoff outsiders, despite being 10 games back in the division and 7 in the wild-card race. “It was big to get the win today,” Gardner said. “It didn’t matter how it happened.”

That was a sentiment shared by Girardi, who was able to again dismiss Rivera’s troubles.

INSIDE PITCH

The Yankees recalled the right-hander Dellin Betances from Class AAA on Sunday and optioned infielder David Adams. Betances, 25, was 6-4 with a 2.97 earned run average in 722/3 innings at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.